Baba Aye's

The news of the death of Rotimi “Molobi” Musa Yaqub Obadofin was a very saddening one for me. I gathered it came from a ruptured appendix whilst he was at Osogbo, on April 7. I did not share some basics of his “Marxism-Leninism”, even at the time I worked closest with him. He did have several flaws (which of us, do not in some form or the other), which did make me wary. But, he was one of the greatest teachers I had on organising within the mass of the people and particularly the working class. Such a debt is one that one never fully pays, not even when you pay a tribute on his departure, from the multifaceted scenes of politics which he was a key player in, for some four decades. I met “Molobi” as we fondly called him at the time, in the first quarter of 1989, at Ilorin. He had relocated to Lagos before then, as far as I could recall. He however was in our beloved Petrograd, Ilorin and was a looming presence at the workers’ study group of the People’s Liberation Movement, ...

“Silence would be treason”  - Kenule Saro-Wiwa Kenule Saro-Wiwa: October 10, 1941-November 10, 1995 The world was shocked when General Sani Abacha ordered the execution of Kenule Saro-Wiwa, Saturday Dobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbooko, Paul Levera, Felix Nuate, Baribor Bera, Barinem Kiobel and John Kpuine on November 10, 1995.  The diminutive author and activist had been a leading voice for environmental justice and the rights of the Ogoni nationality of about 500,000 people to self-determination.  The military regime killed his body but the message he heralded remains loud in the ears of those who despoil the earth and oppress the downtrodden, particularly of the minority nationalities in the Niger delta. Born on October 10, 1941 to the family of an Ogoni chief Jim Wiwa in Bori, “Ken” showed an intense sense of curiosity and brilliance as a youngster. He attended the Government College Umuahia and secured a scholarship to study English at t...